Costello backs four-year term push

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Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has given his support to a new
push for four-year terms for Federal Parliament, saying it would
improve the political system and boost the chance for government to
implement serious reform.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, Finance Minister Nick Minchin,
Tourism Minister Fran Bailey, Special Minister of State Eric Abetz
and parliamentary secretary for Health Christopher Pyne have also
called for the change.

It comes after the issue was re-ignited by the chairman of
Parliament's Electoral Matters Committee, Liberal MP Tony Smith,
who laid down a two-step plan involving a referendum at the next
election in 2007, with the change to take effect after the 2010
election.

The 780 delegates at the Victorian Liberal Party state council
yesterday passed a motion urging the introduction of four-year
terms.

Mr Costello said he supported a system where the first three
years would be fixed with the prime minister of the day having the
flexibility to decide the election date in the last year.

"I think four-year terms would be a considerable improvement in
the Australian political system because they would give a
government the chance to implement serious reform and I
congratulate Tony Smith for putting these matters back on the
agenda," Mr Costello said. "He is one of Australia's most serious
thinkers on parliamentary procedure and the constitution."

A key sticking point in the debate has been what should happen
to Senate terms which are fixed for six years. Mr Costello said he
would probably support eight-year terms.

Mr Ruddock said that while there was "a good deal of support"
for four-year terms, the problem was getting people to agree on the
detail.

"My in-principle view is that four-year terms would be
preferable to three-year terms because it enables a government to
be able to reasonably implement substantial reforms and to have
sufficient time to be able to bed them down," he said.

He warned that the current Government would be unlikely to take
the issue to a referendum unless a consensus "within political
parties as well as between political parties" could be secured.

Mr Ruddock said a push for fixed terms with the election date
set in advance would cause widespread loss of support.

Senator Minchin said the simplest proposal was a four-year term
for the House of Representatives and eight years for the Senate,
but with no fixed terms.

He said an eight-year Senate term was "a small price to pay for
a much better arrangement for the government of the day" and some
states already had eight-year terms for their upper houses.

Senator Minchin said he was strongly opposed to fixed terms.

"When you know three or four years out what the date of the
election is going to be it inevitably produces these very long and
very expensive election campaigns," he said.